Our Walk around the Neighborhood

We seriously were super lucky during this hurricane.  Every time I watch the news, I can't believe how terrible conditions area in so many areas.  Nothing much has changed in the timelines for power to be turned on around Marcus' work or subways to be running.  And we're still hoping to hear that the airports are running as originally scheduled.

Since our area wasn't as affected by the storm, we were able to get out and walk around a bit this afternoon.  We did as we were told and stayed inside, so we were ready for fresh air.  We walked over to the store to grab some new things for dinner tonight and some soda-- what was I thinking storing up on just water and no Diet Coke!  (Can you tell there is Gardner in my blood?!  Haha)  And then we took a longer route home to walk down 48th Street and see the trees that had fallen during the storm.  Luckily no one and no homes in this area were harmed, just a few cars and these beautiful old trees you'll see farther down in this post.

My two boys on our walk :)

Leaves on Skillman

Close to the laundromat we like to go to

And this starts the damage on 48th St.

A pole is holding up this tree

You can see how the tree came up through the cement

The huge branches crossed the entire street

Front view

A second tree on the same street

 Our street-- definitely looks a lot better.  Thank goodness.

The city is coming up with their big plans now about how to repair the city.  I'm sure it will be a long process, but hopefully we'll see lots of improvements in case anything like this happens again.

24 Hours Later

So it's now about 9:15 P.M. on Tuesday night.  The day light definitely showed quite a bit of damage from the hurricane.  Like I said before, our street was basically unscathed.  We were protected for sure.  But apparently even just a couple streets away there was some damage.  Falling trees seemed to have been the biggest issue.  This picture is from about two blocks east-- a tree was completely uprooted out of the cement and fell on a car.  I didn't go outside past the front entrance, so I haven't seen it yet.  I stole this picture from a friend's facebook.

So there was some damage really everywhere in the city.  But our biggest issue right now is that there is no public transit, so we can't go anywhere until it's reopened.  (It's one of the top two priorities according to Mayor Bloomberg's speech this afternoon, along with the power outages.)  They haven't said when it will be opened, so we just have to wait.  This obviously impacts my class tomorrow, since that's by Columbus Circle.  And Marcus' work still doesn't have power.  So between that and the lack of transportation, he gets to hang out with me for at least another day.  (It's been nice to have him here, plus we're able to work on getting Chase on an actual sleeping schedule.  Way easier with two of us home, and Marcus is better at it than me.)

But I think that's the current update as of Tuesday night.  The storm has passed, and now New York City is in rebuilding mode.  Biggest priorities around the city are helping those without power and getting the buses and subways up and going again.  (And of course airports.)  There are some areas with extreme damage, and those are mostly in Long Island, lower Manhattan, and New Jersey.  But they're pushing through and opening areas as quickly as possible.

Sandy Aftermath

Well, Hurricane Sandy definitely made a mess of New York.  The pictures and videos on the news of areas where there was flooding are ridiculous!  Waves were out of control.  They weren't kidding when they said it's the worst storm NY has seen in like 100 years.  Millions of people have lost power, and it may take a week or so to get it all completely back.  Obviously businesses were all closed yesterday, and they are closed today as well.  Marcus' building seems to have lost power-- it's in Manhattan in an area called Murray Hill-- so he's home with us again today.  The mayor declared that all schools will be closed tomorrow as well, but public transit has goals to be up and running tomorrow with some buses going later today.  The buses and subways themselves are all okay-- it's the tracks that have issues.  A couple train tunnels were flooded, so it may take awhile to get back to normal service.  Bridges are reopening this afternoon, so most people are able to drive again.  Airports are flooded right now too, but the last I heard was they want to be reopen tomorrow.  The governor said they want to improve on some of these systems as they work to open since these storms are becoming more regular in this area.  

Sunnyside doesn't seem to have had much damage.  It's a little wet outside, but no flooding.  We're farther from the ocean, so we didn't expect anything compared to lower Manhattan.  Last night we had a lot of wind, but minimal rain.  The sun has come out, and it looks like a really nice day.  We can see some furniture in the courtyard in the back has been tossed around a bit, but nothing has been destroyed.  It's definitely a safer area than what's shown on the news in Manhattan, Long Island, and New Jersey.

10:00 A.M.

11:30 A.M.

So we're really doing okay.  We never lost water or power in our building, so we didn't have to get into our flashlights or emergency water.  I'm pretty sure Chase will never believe he lived through Hurricane Sandy :)

Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

I know just about everyone has been monitoring Hurricane Sandy on the news.  It's 9:00 P.M. on Monday, and it's definitely hitting New Jersey and New York City right now.  Bridges are closed.  Public transportation is suspended.  Schools are closed.  Work is cancelled.  (Marcus just received an email that he doesn't need to go in tomorrow either, thankfully).  We've all been advised to stay inside.  A lot of Manhattan is flooding right now.  And apparently lots of people are without power. There are crazy pictures and videos on the news, if you haven't seen them.  The waves out in the ocean are insane, and there's even water on the airport runways!  

That being said, things are much better in Queens.  We have members of our ward that live closer to the water and had to evacuate.  Certain areas are getting hit hard, but Sunnyside is still pretty dry.  We live close to what was called Zone C earlier today, so we're not in any major threatening areas.  Here are two videos I took out our window earlier this evening, before it got too dark.

3:30 P.M.

5:30 P.M.

The wind has definitely picked up here in the past hour.  We can't really see outside (so no more videos), but it doesn't look like any rain.  But there is some serious wind!  I tried to record a clip so you could hear how loud it is, but I couldn't get it to work.  We've been told to expect lots of wind through tomorrow and probably quite a bit of rain, but we should avoid most of the crazy weather.  We did prepare by getting additional  food and water, so we're set for a few days.  And don't worry, we have more than enough food for Chase and Chicago.  We've located candles, flashlights, and blankets, just in case we do have any power issues, but right now, we're warm and toasty watching the news and movies inside our apartment.  (And Chase has had a great day of being super happy and napping really well.)  

Who would've thought we'd live in NYC through a hurricane!  We're thankful to live in Sunnyside, out of most harm, that's for sure.  And it's great to be members of the Church where we've been raised to prepare for emergencies.  It's helped us stay calm while so many were rushing to buy flashlights, food, and water.  

If you want to track Hurricane Sandy, here's a link through The Weather Channel for a live feed.

(Apparently) Not a Fan of Halloween

Chase had the CUTEST Halloween costume, hands down.  Seriously.  And he looked amazing in it.  It was seriously perfect.  I saw this costume on Pinterest months ago and really wanted to make it, but I had no idea how.  Luckily I have a super talented grandma, and she was able to do it!  Thanks Nana-- we love the costume.  It got a lot of compliments :)  

The only issue was that our little Chase apparently isn't a huge fan of Halloween.  I was determined to get a picture of his costume at the ward party on Saturday, and he didn't want to help out much.  Most of these pictures are not necessarily the best pictures of Chase in his costume, but I won't lie, his expressions (and screams) make hilarious pictures now.  

trying on the costume

isn't that the cutest screaming candy corn ever?!  haha

He didn't have a problem with the costume, but he would not let us get a good picture.

Yes, more tears.  At the Ward Party.

this just cracks me up :)

Hopefully we'll get a better picture of Chase.  Maybe he was just upset that it wasn't really Halloween.  The costume was exactly how I imagined it, and we need to capture it.  Nana, you're seriously amazing!

Happy Halloween :) 

Short Video Clips

Our little dude does everything full-hearted.  Whether it's sleeping, looking around, screaming, wiggling, pooing...  You get the picture.

A little evidence :)  He is a great napper, just like his daddy!

Then today, I had two nappers on me.  

I definitely had tired limbs after that!

And when he's awake, he definitely has his cute, happy moments, 

which are more often than not.

He really is a good little critter.  His sleeping is improving (most days...haha).  And he's looking around a lot and will watch us as we walk around the room.  Now he's even playing with some tummy time.   

Here are some videos from today of him moving and wiggling around.  Ignore my commentary :)

This clip skips a lot due to my crappy phone, but it's still has cute moments

And this one is from yesterday

I can't believe he's already just over a month old!  He's growing so fast.  It's unbelievable.

One Halloween Outfit

Yes, it's one Halloween outfit, not a Halloween outfit because he has three super cute ones (and an awesome costume!).  This one is from my mom's third son, Kei, a conductor from PYS.  Chase and I were "playing" this morning after he woke up, and I took a couple pictures and two videos.

His new favorite pose which he does all the time

Some happy tummy time

...drooling on my sheets

Motion shot

Check out that height!

He finally turned his head back for me :)

Looking around

He's leaning on some pillows so he's sitting up a bit more

Sprouting Hair!

Chase's hair is starting to thicken up a bit.  You can still barely see it because it's super blonde, but if the lighting is right, you can tell there's more.  Here are a few pictures where his hair is noticeable.

One of my favorite pictures, plus you can see their fuzz.  

The little head with a little more hair

 There's definitely something on his head-- you can see his hair line well :)

Not as clear, but this picture cracked me up.  

Marcus set the thrashing boy on the bed for a minute, and he instantly calmed down and fell asleep.

Maybe I'm the only one who can tell there's hair in some of these pictures, but there's so cute...

(We were watching Harry Potter together)

Sitting on the couch with his soft frog mat

Just an extra sweet pic :)

Our Totable Boy

We've officially taken Chase out of the apartment a few times.  A couple in the stroller and a couple in his baby carrier.  I really love the stroller-- it's so light, waterproof, and convenient.  And the carrier is also fantastic-- easy to move and he likes being close.  The true test will come later today when I have to run to the store for the last ingredient for dinner.  We'll see if I can manage.  Or if it stops raining long enough to go...

Taking Chase to BBB in the carrier

This is what he looks like inside.  He really is a potato.

And his little head sticks out the top.  He can't quite see yet, but at least he can breathe :)

We walked around Sunnyside to see the street fair, and Marcus got to try out the carrier.

And we went out to dinner once.  We went to a Donovan's Pub in Woodside that claims to have the best hamburgers.  Yes, great hamburgers!  And yes, baby in a pub.  But it's NY, and it was half restaurant :)  And with our luck, it was a cooler, very rainy evening, so we got to try out the winter cover for the first time and the rain guard again for the stroller to keep Chase warm and dry.

He was definitely warm inside the stroller

In the restaurant.  We all ate, even though usually one of us was standing next to the table.  Good thing we went right after Marcus got off work because the restaurant was basically empty.

Getting ready to head back out into the crazy rainy night

And now I get to try toting him solo.  Luckily my destination is close.  Although I probably should put something else on besides PJs first...